I was happy to see that Chris's Best of Album is number one on our album chart in Australia. It got a Gold accreditation too. It was wonderful to see him here on his promo tour

Love
Diana

WOW! That is Awesome.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!



*smooches*
Miss Sugar xx

Wow, that is really cool. Congrats!

SO THAT'S WHY HE WAS STAYIN' AT THE RITZIEST HOTEL IN SYDNEY!

He's moved up from the W then? Ladybird

Congrats Chris - it's been a while since you've had a number one here in oz! Ladybirdx

[color=#6600CC] Good Job - Australia Loves you Chris




Good Job - Australia Loves you Chris

That is very cool! How popular is he there? I'm not sure how his Best Of CD is doing in the states but I know it hasn't cracked the Top 20.

wildflower

Hello everybody! to all Beautiful people...I had to throw in, I have to CONGRATULATE to our CHRIS and SILVERTONES!!!well JOB done for AUSTRALIA to BUY CHRIS CD!!!! WOW this is just wonderful way to show support, and it's a Blessing to have CHRIS ISAAK as MY FAVE SINGER-SONGWRITER and PERSON be in AWESOME AUSTRALIA!!! IS CHRIS & KENNY still IN AUSTRALIA or did they return to the states?..Do not see anywhere if he still there or came Back...let us know Here In U.S. God Blessings to all on here, Sincerely me., Willa-- SillieWillie. Hendersonville, TN

Hey SillieWillie,

Chris and Kenney flew out of Australia on the 11th of June. (our time so it would have
been the 10th of June in US time I suppose, depending on what time they flew out)

Bwaa haa haa - confusing hey but yeah they have gone. *sob*

That's what Chris was presented with at the cocktail party, his Gold Record!
( I was paying attention - really I was! ) - damn champagne.

*smooches*
Miss Sugar xx

SO IT REALLY DOES TAKE 20 YEARS FOR POPULAR MUSIC/CULTURE TO REACH AUSTRALIA AND EUROPE!!!

NO KIDDING! I WAS IN SPAIN IN '85-'90 AND THEY THOUGHT THE T.V. SHOW "HOTEL" WAS PRIME TIME ENTERTAINMENT...UP THERE WITH FUTBOL (SOCCER).

Wow...that's sensational. And it also explains something. I went down to JB Hi-Fi at Eastland yesterday (down here in Victoria) to grab a copy, and the first thing I saw was this stand full of 'Best of Split Enz' CD's, and there in the midst of them all was this lonely 'Best of Chris Isaak'. I thought it was a little weird that they'd put his CD in with the Split Enz CD's, (it was the only one - and it was my lucky day - it turned out to be the last one in the store). Anyway, then I took a good look at the stand, and I was surprised to see that it wasn't the 'Split Enz' stand, it actually was the 'Chris Isaak - Best of' stand - a whole stand dedicated to him. I realised then that, (1) they must have been selling like hotcakes because that stand was HUGE, so it must have held a lot of copies, and (2) I was really lucky to pick that last CD/DVD up, because as it's a limited edition thing (so I believe). Oh, and that person who said that Australia was 20 years behind the rest of the world - I think you got us mixed up with New Zealand.

(FYI, 'Split Enz' is an Aussie band from the 70's/early 80's which consisted of the Finn brothers (Neil - who went on to greater things in 'Crowded House' and older brother Tim. They reformed again recently.)

Congraluations on the "Best Of Chris Isaak" cd being #1 there on the Australian charts. I do hope that it does make it to #1 here on the US charts soon.

-Deanna

HOW MANY RECORDS YOU GOTTA SELL TO REACH GOLD STATUS?
20 MILLION?

HERE'S THE LATEST CONVERSION OF AUSSIE DOLLARS TO US DOLLARS:

20,000,000 AUD = 14,816,022 USD

IT STILL EQUALS A LOT NO MATTER WHERE YOU GO...

WHO WANTS TO BE CHRIS ISAAK'S GIRLFRIEND, NOW?

Well, since I was here earlier I watched the DVD (plus the commentary - he didn't let me down, I knew it'd be funny ) but I am puzzled about something: Where was 'Solitary Man'?? Does it appear on the U.S. version? To tell you the truth I'd forgot it completely until I saw it mentioned in the credits at the end, and thought, 'I don't remember seeing it'. I went back and checked, and it's definitely not on there. I'ts been quite a while since I've seen that video but if I remember rightly, there were a couple of racy bits in in it. (I think it was the one where he had his hands on his naughty bits Surely that wasn't the reason why it was omitted? Hmmmm.... Anyway, I really enjoyed watching those clips again. My old videos had worn out a long time ago so it was good to see them again. Also, I'd forgotten how hairy the man is - positively furry! (Oh well, it'd be nice to snuggle up to in the winter time, lol).

HEY SUGAR D.....I APPRECIATE YOU AND FOR THE AWESOME PICS YOU POSTED, I THOUGHT THEY WERE BEAUTIFUL OF YOU ALL DRESSED UP VERY NICE...AND CHRIS, WHAT DID HE HAVE ON, A HAWAIIAN SHIRT?..THAT IS AWESOME YOU GOT TO SEE HIM GET THE GOLD RECORD..I WOULD LOVED TO BEEN THERE TO SEE THAT EVENT!..AND HOW WAS THE CHAMPAGNE?..LOL IS IT PRETTY STRONG OVER IN AUSSIE?...I LOVE TO COME TO AUSTRALIA, ALWAYS HAVE,..I HEAR IT JUST BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY.- I SEE THE CAMS FROM HOME OF AUSTRALIA, AT THE SYNDEY PIER, I THINK SO. I NEED TO GO BACK AND VIEW THE CAM SOME MORE.I LOVE THE AUSSIE PEOPLE TALKING,..NOBOY CAN COMPARE TO THE ACCENT......SOME WHERE IN NASHVILLE, WE HAVE ONE OF YOUR OWN LIVING HERE,,,KEITH URBAN...AND POSSIBLY, NICOLE WILL BE SOMETIME MOVING HERE WHEN THEY DECIDE TO LIVE PART TIME PERHAPS IN NASHVILLE, TN AREA.....IT WOULD BE AWESOME JUST TO BE ABLE TO SEE CHRIS IN CONCERT...I HAVE MY DREAM-YET TO MEET AND HEAR HIM PERFORM -LIVE!..HOW IS HIS PERSONALITY?..I CAN ONLY IMAGINE AND BET, HE IS VERY SWEET TO YOU, AND ALL THE OTHERS....LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF HIS PERSONALITY.....I SEE KENNY BIRTHDAY IS UP HERE JUNE 16TH, RIGHT?..AND THEN CHRIS..ON 26TH.. i WOULD SEND YOU A PIC OF ME, BUT I WOULD HAVE TO SEND IT BY E-MAIL, AND THEN MAYBE I CAN ASK YOU TO POST IT ON HERE FOR ME, WOULD YOU?..HUGSSS...THANK YOU FROM MY HEART, HUGS, WILLA- SILLIEWILLIE...TN

Cheryl, from the main menu, choose Commentary. Then choose Next. The Solitary Man Bonus Commentary is on there - it's the last one, listed after the credits.

Thanks Willie, its really nice to be able to share this stuff with other Isaak fans. The girls at work get sick of hearing about it so I'm glad I have this board. Besides, I get to meet lots of lovely people while I talk about CI&S all day. Who could ask for anything more.

It was a magical night and Chris looked super cool in his suit with Yes, his Hawaiin shirt. As for the gold record, it was a nice way of him knowing that he is appreciated by his Aussie fans. Hmmm don't get me started on the champagne. I just think I don't have any tolerance for bubbles.

I'll send you a PM and if you send me your pic, I'd be more than happy to post it for you sweetie.

*hugs*
Miss Sugar xx

Note to Willie - I can't send you a PM it says that this message can not be sent because the recipient has their personal messenger disabled or their personal messenger inbox is full. Email me - emma_lou@bigpond.com.au

Hey that's terrific although Chris has a pretty huge fan base here that he rewards by coming back and touring regularly, yay.

The cd store I went in to get The Best Of Chris didn't even have it out on display yet and this was on Tuesday after it had gone on sale Saturday. I went and asked for it and they had it behind the counter. Maybe I should change stores because a lot of the cds I want are always behind the counter.

Danielle,

The racy ones are always behind the counter.

And getting limos to the appearance at JB HiFi.

I hope we keep him at number 1 on the Oz charts for many weeks to come.

here is the link http://www.ariacharts.com.au/ for all those like me who want to cheer on Chris

Thanks so much Natalie I just watched it thanks to you. All I can say is "duh" on me! (I must have had a blonde moment or something to have missed as easily as that - and that's pretty tragic, considering I'm a redhead, LOL). I'm usually pretty good at finding easter eggs in DVD's, so I don't know what happened there, but oh well.....Anyway, I was surprised to hear him say that they couldn't get the 'music approved on time' ?? I didn't quite understand why not...wouldn't Chris have the ultimate rights to it? However...

I must say I was a little disappointed when I got to see it. It WAS the one where he's writhing around in bed at the beginning doing interesting things with his hand under the sheet - but they went and cut that out...bugger! (I was looking forward to seeing that part again, lol). Couldn't they have just slapped a 'PG - parental control' sticker on the CD or something Oh well, seriiously, I guess it has to be as 'acceptable' to as wide a market as possible in order to sell more copies, and speaking of which, I saw this week's Top 20 albums listed in the entertainment section of the paper today. Yep, and there was 'Best Of' - zooming in straight into the No. 1 position. I'll try and get a scan of it later and put a link up to it - so everyone can see it in black and white. I think it's amazing, and good on him for achieving it, because he's worked damn hard over the years for it, so his success is well-deserved.

Here's a copy of the Top 20, as promised. It's taken from the Melbourne Herald-Sun (Thurs. 15/6/06). Sorry my writing on it at the top is a little bit hard to read, but the scanner obviously didn't like pink pens. Also, my apologies for the size of the image, but in order to make it easier to read on the screen I had to blow it up somewhat.

<a href="http://www.graphicallusions.com/isaak/top20.jpg">Australian Top 20 for the week of 15/6/06.</a>

(if the html doesn't work, just cut and paste the link straight into your browser). Enjoy

Cheryl L., I tried to copy and paste the link you gave into my browser search engine and it didn't work for me. I am not sure why it didn't work. Thoughth I'd let you know.

-Deanna

Just paste this part....


http://www.graphicallusions.com/isaak/top20.jpg


And it should come up.

I am in agreement with you about the "Solitary Man" video. It's definitely the cleaned-up, 'approved by Mom' version. I guess it was just too baaaaaaaaaaaaaad to be on the DVD. "Chris did a bad, bad thing" -- come on, everyone, sing along.

I don't want to stir up the hornet's nest of copyright again, but just to let you know that Chris did not write "Solitary Man". Neil Diamond did so he owns the rights to the words and music. Neil Diamond also wrote "Red, Red Wine" as covered by UB-40 and "I'm a Believer", which was covered by The Monkees and Smash Mouth (as featured in the movie "Shrek" in 2001). Just more useless bits of trivia that I enjoy.

Mark, thanks for posting the link. I had trouble with trying to get it to come up earlier. Hope your day is going well today so far.

-Deanna

Deanna: Agh...I'm sorry about that. I should have made the link more clearer. I thought the code alone would do the trick, but message forums all seem to handle code differently - sometimes they work and sometimes they don't

FifiKitty: Well, all I can say is, I'm an idiot (it's definitely confirmed now ) I should have realised the Solitary Man/copyright thing. I'm shaking my head in disbelief here that I forgot that. I'm a big Neil Diamond fan, so I already knew he wrote it. I don't know what I was thinking yesterday....I'm obviously not having enough Weeties for breakfast or something I've actually GOT the original vinyl single somewhere - yep, the original he did. It was one of the first records I ever bought. I've also got a few other singles he did (remember 'Cracklin' Rosie'? maybe not?) I was pretty young at the time (like, sub-teenage years) but remember I used to save my pocket money every week to buy my favourite singles, lol. Oh, those were the days.....hmmmm...maybe not

Nothing but the best for our Ritzy blue eyed boy!

November can't come quick enough so we can all get our sequin fix!

Ain't that true.

I have to say after reading everyone's talk of Solitary Man and the racy sections, I will have to go and watch DVD again as I missed it the first time. I was totally impressed with all on the DVD as I hadn't actually seen the clips to any of his songs before. I don't know where I've been hiding. I watched it with the commontary straight away as I wanted that beautiful voice to help get me aquainted with the material. He is just too funny and a little bit naughty. All the better to listen to.

Above was me, forgot to log in again.

I have that same problem Danielle!

Has anyone seen a video for King Without A Castle? or Want You to Want Me- which rocks!

Ladybirdx, maybe I just don't watch enough TV!

Hey Cheryl love the quote on the bottom of your posts! Made me smile Ladybird

Cheryl,

Cool that you are a big Neil Diamond fan. I don't have any of his stuff but I was a big Monkees fan when I was pre-Kindergarten so I know their version of "I'm a Believer". I've been using that song with high school music students since the first two notes constitute a minor 7th interval and this is one of the few songs they know that has that interval. It's helping them because they know the "Smash Mouth" version. I guess Neil has done quite well in royalties from that song. Can't say that I have "Cracklin' Rosie" but I've heard it on the radio.

When I was pre-Kindergarten, I used to listen to my Mom's 45 of "Hound Dog/Don't Be Cruel" and "Teddy Bear/Loving You" by Elvis (with the dust jacket still). We also had two Beatles 45's ("I Want to Hold Your Hand/I Saw Her Standing There" and "We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper"). I used to play them over and over and over until my parents were probably crazy from listening. I still have them.

Thanks Ladybird I must confess I cheated - it's one I use on another forum as well...my brain was too tired to come up with anything else the other day, lol. I've got goofy avatar I must upload some day too.


Fifi: Yeah, Neil is great...Neil is good. I have practically all his back catalogue (mostly original vinyls - although I'm not sure what condition they're in these days.. He toured out here about 5 years ago and I went along to his show. It was awesome!

Hey, you're a teacher??? Ditto.

Lots of teachers on here huh? I am a primary teacher.

I'm primarily not a teacher. I've been teaching high school music this semester, however, and is it ever an eye (and ear) opener! If I have to listen to "Funkytown" by Lipps Inc. one more time (especially the trombone part).....

Didn't know there were so many teachers on this board.

Ahhh...cool. Well, you're doing much better than me (even though you are using 'Funkytown' My music lessons consist of playing Musical Detectives, lol.

Danielle: I'm primary too! I'm taking a break from it right now (I'm trying to get a small online business up and running) but depending on how the money situation goes, I'll probably have to return to teaching again next year. Are you a full time classroom teacher? I primarily work as a relief teacher these days. I had a GREAT contract job as a literacy specialist a couple of years ago, but they blew their global budget at the end of the year, so they couldn't afford to re-hire me at the end of my contract. I literally cried on my last day I was so upset about leaving - I LOVED that job. I did a lot of one-on-one work with kids with reading problems, small group work, and also worked with a small group of gifted kids as well...(who scared the hell out of me, lol).

Chris Isaak #1 album in Australia

After nine amazing albums, 2 Grammy nominations, a movie career, three series of his own acclaimed TV series and a huge live audience following with his band Silvertone, Chris Isaak’s ‘Best Of’ was released in Australia last Saturday, June 3rd. Supported by an incredible week of in-market promotion by the native Californian who charmed Australian media and fans alike, the album has debuted at the coveted #1 position knocking off label mates the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ new album ‘Stadium Arcadium’.

Australia has become a second home to Chris and his ‘Best Of’ album has been the perfect opportunity for Chris’ fans to secure the definitive collection featuring his well known hits, ‘Wicked Game’, ‘Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing’ and ‘Somebody’s Crying’ as well as his new single (serviced to radio last week), Cheap Trick’s ‘I Want You To Want Me’.

Chris Isaak and his drummer of 20 years Kenney Dale Johnson, were still in Australia when they were told of the #1 album news and celebrated by going to the S.C.G to watch the Sydney Swans versus St. Kilda game. Chris said; “Im very grateful to the Australian public and all my friends at media and retail who have supported not only this project but my whole career in Australia. It’s an honour to be so welcomed in Australia and I can’t wait to bring the entire band back in November so I can give something back in the way we do best, on stage”.

Tickets to Chris Isaak’s ‘Best Of’ national tour go on sale this Friday June 16th

(see dates below)

For Warner Music Australia, this week’s albums chart heralds 9 Albums in the Top 20, three of which are Australian releases, delivering 45% of the Top 20 chart for the week.

Warner Music Australia Top 20 chart positions for:

1. Chris Isaak – Best Of
2. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Stadium Arcadium
5. Split Enz – Spellbound
6. James Blunt – Back To Bedlam
10. Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere
11. The Veronicas – The Secret Life Of...
14. Lee Kernaghan – The New Bush
19. Butterfingers – The Deeper You Dig
20. Fleetwood Mac – The Very Best Of

Good luck with the business Cheryl. That's the good thing about teaching. You can always fall back on it when you need to. It's a good safety net. I am a full time classroom teacher in a public school. I am enjoying the choir but my passion is the teacher's federation. I love getting involved with things at that outer level rather than just the cold front at the classroom. The literacy specialist job would have been really good and especially rewarding as you can work with kids on a small group and individual level, whereas sometimes in the classroom there are so many other things and interruptions happening that you cant focus on what you would like to do.

Fifi, it must be kinda fun to teach music in high school, especially with the older kids since they want to be there having chosen the subject. I don't know if I could listen to Funkytown too often either.

It's nice to have so many teacher on here. What a well educated fan base Chris has.

Well, I'm going to throw my hat in the ring for Secondary School Support Staff. Woo!

Way to go, Aussies for knocking those gnarly Chili Peppers off the number 1 spot. Australians rock! Come on Canadians, let's do the same in Canada. Make Chris #1!

Lol, that's cool Mark. What do you do?

Hi teachers and teacher support staff -- You are all GREAT! I just want to point out that I did not choose "Funkytown" for the classes....but they seemed to love it anyway. I'd like to hear some Chris Isaak and Silvertone instead --wouldn't it be great to hear "Lonely....With a Broken Heart" from SF Days for a big BAND? (OK, tell me if it's just me who wants to hear this.)

Speaking of high school students wanting to be in music class...maybe in grades above 9 but those 9's have to take either art, drama, or music and as one student said to me, "I can't draw. I can't talk in front of people. That leaves music but I suck at that too."

I'm a network analyst and Multimedia guru.

I'm also involved with the music department quite regularly, when they need somebody to demonstrate how NOT to play guitar. It gets me on all of the good field trips.

Fifi,

Yes, I suppose that's true enough of the lower grades. They don't want to do much of anything. I wuldn't have chosen Funkytown either not that there's anything wrong with it but it's much nicer to choose songs that you like so you don't get sick of hearing them. I could never get sick of hearing CHris Isaak and Silvertone and that's a pretty good starting point for a high school band I think. I'm trying to work out how I can get my choir to sing Chris' songs but as yet haven't found any appropriate for a primary choir. Too much relationship content that I'm not allowed to use.

Mark,

Sounds tricky but interesting. Not much of a technophile myself. Being involved with the music department sounds like fun. It's so enriching to be part of that creative stuff and watch the kids excel. We get bogged down in the reading, writing and numbers too much and it gets boring.

I've got to be honest, I'm really quite good at the academic subjects like math, science, and english, but i love the more creative courses. One of our music teachers came in and built a guitar program (he's a phenomenal player), and now teaches three sections of that each semester. This May, we took the guitar ensembles to the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, and both groups played on the stage in the hall itself. The juniors did a medley of Queen songs (I don't like 'em, but it's better than hearing Pomp and Circumstance for the 4000th time), and the seniors did a medley of Pink Floyd songs. It was pretty cool to see them playing, and then be able to look up and over and see the Wall display with the giant teacher hanging over the bricks.

Having a guitar teacher around is a great resource as well...he taught me all of the chord variations for the chorus of "I Wonder".

Well, "Funkytown" is fun for grade 9/10 band, I have to admit. They like it and they can play it (well, most of them). I'd rather be playing/conducting Chris Isaak too but I have to make do with playing his stuff on the piano in between classes. Hmm...primary choir songs? Probably stay away from "Baby Did a Bad, Bad Thing" but keep looking...there's got to be one that's good for primary. Or just teach them early that loving is bad and gets you into trouble!!



Mark, I want to go to the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame. Where do I sign up? I guess I need to learn the guitar first....

Thanks so much Danielle. It's not going as well as I'd hoped (as a matter of fact, I think the only direction it's going in at the moment is backwards, but oh well. As you say there's always the teaching to fall back on. Well, good for you being so interested in the union...I hope all that works out for you. Yes, there certainly is a LOT more to teaching that most people realise. I enjoy the preparation side of it, even don't mind the assessment side, but I do get the most out of dealing face-to-face with the kids. If you're a full-time classroom teacher, it's the old age problem, isn't it? How to give kids the individual attention they really need when you have to deal with 30 of them at once. That's why I loved the one-to-one sessions I did. You felt like you made some kind of a difference. I was really into trying to empower the real strugglers - you know, lots of praise and encouragement - even when they made mistakes - and then steering them onto the right course. These kids' self-confidence was already pretty shot, so it made sense to me to try and bend over backwards to try and lift them up a few notches. I got good results too. In the classroom, that's so much tougher to do of course. And then you've got more discipline issues when you're dealing with larger groups of kids. I try to be fair, but I'm always assertive (and can be a first-class bitch when required too - especially with the senior grades, lol). Of course, then you throw in all the ADHD kids and other special-need kids into the mix - and if there's no money in the budget for extra support staff - well....what a job, eh?!

Mark: Good for you! You sound like you've got a great job and truly enjoy it. Rock on, dude.

Mark,

That guitar program sounds pretty fantastic. I am in awe of those really gifted and talented musical people. It would have been a great experience for the guitar ensemble to go to the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame. Such an inspiring atmosphere and to play there too. I bet it was terrific to see them. You get such a sense of pride when you see kids perform and excel like that and to be a small part of it. That's how I feel anyway. It would be nice to have the guitar teacher there too so you can pick his brains.


Fifi,

Thats pretty cool you playing Chris' songs on the piano between classes. Yeah, I think I'll stay away from Baby Did A Bad, Bad Thing. I'd have parents straight up to my boss, lol. I've been leanign towards the really pretty ones from Baja Sessions. I'd have no problems teaching them the songs because while the lyrics are really good for me it's the music that hooks me. I've been leaning towards Yellow Bird, which is pretty tame. I still remember learning that in year 4 myself.

Cheryl,

Hi, I'm sorry about the business. It's really hard to start out like that but I hope something works out. I know what you mean about the one on one being so good to help kids excel. You really notice the difference in their outcomes when you can concentrate on their individual needs. I know the rewarding feeling you mean when you can get those real strugglers to achieve and get their confidence back. It's so hard for those kids in the mainstream class. They often just slip through the cracks. You try hard but there's only so much time you have with them in the classroom each day. Wish we had more funding for that sort of thing so that all the kids could have a fair chance. I think that's why I like the federation so much, it allows me to fight for education as a whole as well as do the best for the kids in my room.

Not to brag about the kids, but we went last year to the RNR Hall of Fame as well, just to tour it. our guitar teacher got the idea of playing there this year because there were a couple of bands playing there for our first tour. They were pretty much your typical high school band, playing concert pieces, until the end when they played Hey Jude by the Beatles. They were okay, but people would come in, stand and watch for a moment and then move on. When our kids played, people were coming out of exhibits to watch them...there are a couple of really great pictures that i have where you can see the kids on stage, and the upper level "balconies" from the different floors are packed with people. There was also a large crowd in front of the stage...after the show, a guy came up and introduced himself to the music teacher and gushed his praises...turns out that he was the drummer for the Allman Brothers Band....a couple of kids are big ABB fans, so it was a huge moment for them. I would love to post the picture, but something tells me that putting a picture of a bunch of students on an internet forum might cause me some trouble.